


Crystal Children

by tiger9in1



Series: Crystal Children [1]
Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:27:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25460896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tiger9in1/pseuds/tiger9in1
Series: Crystal Children [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1844206
Kudos: 1





	Crystal Children

Crystal Children

“Come on, Slethan, hurry up! I can’t wait all day for you!”

  
Through the trees, twelve-year-old Slethan spotted a figure standing in a patch of sunlight some three field-lengths away. The light made her tawny fur glow pale gold. Her fur was a slightly darker shade than his own, her orange eyes a shade lighter, her lean lithe body an inch taller. She wore only a loincloth made from beige fluff-grass fibers, identical to his own. At this distance, it wasn’t possible to see his twin’s smirk of challenge, but the laugh in her voice was perfectly clear.

  
He rolled his eyes and laughed as well. “You know I can’t run like you, Kira. Won’t you wait five minutes for me to catch up?”

  
The figure shook her head firmly. “Not a chance, Turtle-Legs. You want me to wait, you have to catch me first.”

  
With that, she took off again, disappearing into the shadows in a blur of brown. Slethan shook his head and sprinted after her. Typical. Kira was only a few minutes older than he was, but she had more energy than a flitter-bird. And the same attention span. With her speed, she’d reach the Speaker’s house hours before he could. Unless…

  
Slethan stopped. In front of him was a tree thicker than any in this part of the forest. The trunk alone would fit Slethan’s entire house inside it. It was tall too, he knew. He and Kira had climbed it before, to see beyond the forest to the surrounding cliffs and beyond that, the ocean. Slethan could smell a hint of it even here. Carefully Slethan unfolded a pair of yellow, diamond-shaped wings from his back. A second later, he launched into the air.

  
His father, Sigal, had only taught him how to fly two moons before, and only for one lesson. He said there was no point in learning more than the basics until Slethan’s wings finished growing. Certainly his downstroke wasn’t very powerful yet; he couldn’t lift himself more than a few feet. But that was all he needed. He grabbed the lowermost branch, tucking his wings back in. Then he scurried up the tree at top speed, finding branches more by instinct than by thought. As a member of the Tree-Dwellers, he had learned to climb before he could walk. In a matter of minutes, he had reached the top.

  
The branches under his feet swayed as he looked out over the canopy. The whole forest bobbed with a strong wind coming off the sea. Slethan took a deep breath, inhaling the briny, bracing smell. He thought he tasted fish, and drooled slightly. His tribe didn’t eat fish that often, because the rough crags and pounding surf didn’t offer a good landing place. But at low tide, he and Kira sometimes landed on the rocks and ate shelled creatures out of the tidal pools. But that wasn’t his concern at the moment. He inched forward on his branch, cautiously spreading his wings. Then, when he had almost run out of branch, he leapt forward. The wind caught under his wings and buoyed him up.

  
It required very little effort to glide this way. Slethan just had to be careful not to overbalance. He flew lower and lower. The forest thinned out, and gave way to a series of foothills, devoid of anything except grass. Beyond the first hill, a thin plume of smoke rose from a small valley. It belonged to a fire, which at this point was little more than a mass of glowing coals. Next to the fire was the entrance to a wide-mouthed cave, blocked by a heavy wooden door. Slethan circled down over the valley in a series of gentle spirals. Below him, he could see the outline of Kira running at full speed toward the cave. She looked up with a dumbfounded expression as he flew over her head and ran faster. He continued to circle in tighter and tighter spirals. Finally, at the entrance to the cave, just in front of the fire, Slethan landed and folded his wings, grinning as Kira sprinted toward him, glaring. Then he lost his balance and fell backwards onto the fire. He howled, as much with annoyance as pain. Kira chuckled slightly, but she offered him an arm and pulled him to his feet. She inspected his tail and backside with a mixture of concern and amusement.

  
“No serious burns,” she said, brushing a bit of ash off his loincloth. “Just a bit of singed fur. Serves you right, you cheater.”

  
“Cheater? What about you, Miss Leave-Me-Behind? How else would I have caught up?”

  
Kira ruffled his hair. “I’m just kidding. Let’s tell the Speaker we’re here.”

  
“What’s the big hurry, anyway?” Slethan whined and massaged his backside. It still hurt, whatever Kira said.

  
“The Speaker promised to show us a surprise today.” Her orange eyes lit up. “Come on, Slethan, you’re not a little curious?”

  
Of course he was. The Speaker told us moons ago that he would have a surprise ready for them soon, but yesterday he had said, “The surprise will be waiting for you tomorrow. I’ve been waiting a long time to tell you.”

  
“What is it?” they had asked eagerly, but the Speaker merely chuckled. “Wait and see,” he said, and refused to say another word.  
“What do you suppose it is?” asked Slethan thoughtfully.

  
“I don’t know, but I’m sure it will be something wonderful!” said Kira with enthusiasm. She pounded the door furiously.

  
The things the Speaker showed them had been wonderful enough. He showed them how wood could be pulped and made into sheets of paper. He taught them how to write with unfamiliar symbols, and how to read others. He showed them books of similar markings for them to read. He taught them how to speak another language, and read different symbols of their writing as well. He even taught them the meaning of numbers, even much larger numbers than they had ever seen. Slethan was better at all these things, especially language, than Kira, although she was faster with her answers. Why wasn’t he more excited, he wondered. Why shouldn’t he be as excited as Kira? Then again, she loved anything new.  
The truth was, Slethan felt nervous. He couldn’t imagine anything more marvelous than what the Speaker already showed them. And the Speaker had suggested that all the things before were mere preparation to this one. What if it didn’t live up to his expectations? What if it disappointed him in some way? Then again, what if it didn’t? Would his life ever be the same again?

  
Kira continued to pound on the door. From the other side, a familiar voice called out, “All right, all right, no need to tear the door down! Come right in!”

  
Kira flung the door open and sprinted inside in seconds, Slethan just behind her. The cave looked the same as always; a wide circular room. In a middle sat a massive wooden table that looked like it was hewn from a tree stump. Upon it sat a mysterious orb-like lamp, whose blue-white light gave the room’s only illumination. Aside from the door, and another on the opposite wall, there were no other openings, no windows. And yet it did not look uninviting. The stone floor was covered by several thick, soft rugs; the walls, too, had been padded by a series of brightly colored tapestries in various geometrical patterns.

  
Except for one. While Kira greeted the Speaker happily and sat down in one of two empty chairs, Slethan looked beyond them both to the tapestry on the opposite wall. Yesterday it contained a series of triangles in bold, striking colors. Today it depicted a series of people standing on a cliff, looking away from a steep, elongated valley. At least, Slethan thought they were people; in body structure they were more like large lizards. Each of the three figures possessed a wedge-shaped head, a long flexible neck, pointed claws, and a thin, tapering tail. And yet lizards they were not, for a thin layer of silvery hair covered every inch of their bodies. One figure stood at the edge of the cliff with a much smaller figure that could have been its child. The other’s body was half-turned away as though it was leaving. That one was of particular interest to Slethan, for it seemed more clearly depicted than the others, more vibrant. Nowhere were the colors brighter, or more alive. Tall and lean, with dark black skin beneath its silvery fur and a shock of white hair. One blue eye, multi-faceted like a jewel, stared straight at Slethan out of the tapestry. It looked both sad and defiant.

  
“You like my work?”

  
Slethan turned to the Speaker in astonishment. He had risen from his chair to stand beside Slethan. In response to his unasked question, he said, “Oh yes, I made it. Impressive if I do say so myself.”

  
“What are they?” Slethan asked.

  
The Speaker said simply, “They are the Halim.”

  
The Halim. Slethan knew that word. It was the name of the language the Speaker was teaching them. Now Slethan imagined these lizard-like people pronouncing the words the Speaker had given him, words that flowed like a babbling brook or sliced the air with piercing shrieks. It amazed him.

  
He turned to look at the Speaker. The Speaker looked the same as always, yet Slethan could sense something different about him too. Yet he couldn’t place it. The Speaker was tall, twice as tall as either Slethan or Kira. His fur was a golden yellow, and his eyes were blue. He wore only a loincloth which looked no different from theirs except in size.

  
“Is this the surprise?” Slethan watched as Kira rose from her seat and moved toward the tapestry, tracing the threads with her fingers.  
The Speaker smiled, and one ear twitched slightly. “No. It is only part of it. Sit down and I’ll tell you more.”  
Slethan took his seat at the table. Beside him Kira did the same. They both watched silently as the Speaker approached his chair, not sure what he would tell them.

  
But the Speaker did not immediately take his seat. He stood behind it instead, murmuring softly to himself, and moving his right hand to his chest. A glowing patch appeared there, just below shoulder height. The Speaker seized it and, with deliberate motion, pulled. Slethan cringed, but then saw the Speaker was holding some sort of object, which was attached to a silver chain around his neck. But neither chain nor object had been there a second ago. It looked like the Speaker had ripped them, whole, from his living body.

  
The Speaker deftly removed the necklace and placed it on the table. The object was a gemstone, like Shamans wore, and cut like a diamond. It was a rich shade of blue, and it flickered with an inner glow, as though a fire was raging inside. Large it was too, larger than Slethan’s hand. He’d never seen anything so beautiful.

  
The Speaker smiled at their open mouths and dumbfounded expressions. Even Kira could find nothing to say. “Wha…what is it?” Slethan managed to sputter at last.

  
“It’s a crystal,” said the Speaker. “It’s alive.” He pushed it further along the table. “Go ahead, Kira, touch it. Say hello.”


End file.
